Teaching

Research

I work on two projects: one concerning the fundamental laws of
physics, the other concerning certain condensed matter systems that might eventually
be useful in quantum computers. Both projects use the technology of two-dimensional
quantum field theory.

I have formulated and am investigating a physical mechanism that
at least formally determines the background spacetime for string theory.
The hope is that this mechanism
will actually produce
the combination of General Relativity and the Standard Model of
particle physics
that has so
accurately described
physics across an astonishingly wide range of distance scales.

I am also trying to understand the basic properties of
near-critical quantum circuits. These are
one-dimensional condensed matter systems near a low temperature critical
point.
I have argued that such systems are the only physical systems
that are practical for asymptotically large-scale quantum computers.

These systems behave in universal ways which are described by
1+1 dimensional quantum field theories. Universal physical
properties of these systems can be discovered by investigating the
general structures of 1+1 dimensional quantum field theories.